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The AR-548 is the earliest known model of the Scimitar weapon line. It is assumed to have entered service near the time the USIF Powered Assault Armor began to come into use, since the weapon is far too powerful for standard infantry to handle. The weapon proved extremely lethal and has since received system upgrades to link the weapon statistics with the soldier's HUD, such as ammunition count, available attachments, accuracy, and bore temperature. The rebel army Arm of Orion found the weapon to be so effective that they eventually stole several models of the AR-548's older version, the AR-546. They reverse-engineered the AR-546 to create their own version, known as the REC-74 War Dragon, thus starting the Arm's reverse-engineering of USIF weapons.

Shortly after the USIF victory over the Arm in the Outer Rim War, an improved model of the Scimitar was issued to its soldiers. The improved Scimitar would serve the USIF well in later campaigns, particularly in its battles against the ruthless Orion's Spear.

The AR-548 is a powerful, long ranged, electromagnetically accelerated railgun rifle. This means that the rounds are launched out of the barrel magnetically, utilizing two metal rails arranged in parallel inside the barrel. In conjunction with a large electrical current generated from a separate source, the rail system is able to launch its rounds with significantly more force than chemical propulsion. Ammunition can also be smaller while still inflicting dramatically more damage than firearms using chemical propulsion, because the entire round is launched and devoted to impact, as opposed to a large portion of a cased round being wasted on chemical propellant and ejected upon firing, leaving only the small tip (bullet) to be launched.

The weapon's large magazine, located under the midsection of the gun, can hold thousands of rounds in a large solid block. The powerful gauss systems instantly cut an appropriately sized slug and launch it toward an enemy. Because of this, actual ammunition is hardly ever a problem in the field, only obtaining the necessary batteries to power the railgun array.

All AR-548 models use small, disk shaped battery magazines to power the rail system and propel the 15 millimeter rounds out of the barrel, meaning the rounds require absolutely no chemical propulsion whatsoever. Each battery can power the propulsion of sixty rounds. With a soldier's standard carrying capacity of eight battery clips, this gives the user a maximum of 480 rounds battery-wise.

The rounds themselves are 15x45 millimeter rail-propelled armor-piercing slugs, which can be coated in either a tungsten or anvil jacket. Each bullet is fitted with an Mk2 Electro-magnetic jacketing system, which layers each round into a harmonically tuned electromagnetic frequency, allowing it to wear down shields faster and makes it particularly effective at tearing through the armor and flesh of enemy infantry.

The Scimitar can be fired on full-auto accurately and at long range without the round "dipping" thanks to its rail propulsion system but rounds begin to splinter at long ranges when the trigger is held down too long. Using the AR-548's built-in smartlink scope can significantly improve the weapon's accuracy, as well as firing in short bursts or single shots, kneeling, or making use of gyro stabilizers.

Newer models retain all basic features of the original Scimitar like the Mk2 EMJ system and rail-propelled rounds, but features a sleeker design, a larger battery clip that now holds ninety rounds, larger smartlink scope, improved rate of fire, and improved muzzle stability that greatly reduces bullet spread over prolonged fire. In addition, the improved Scimitar is now able to incorporate different ammo modifications like the original rail rounds or harder hitting slug rounds that are more effective against armor, but less so against shielding; the weapon can even have a "smart" ammo mod installed into it, allowing it to automatically switch between rail rounds during medium to long range skirmishes, and then to slug rounds for close range confrontations.

The new Scimitar utilizes a more effective cooling method for its barrel and action, as well as the contacts where the battery magazine transfers electricity to the weapon itself. The newer Scimitar model is also able to hold ninety rounds in its more efficient battery magazines. Coupled with newer improvements made to USIF Powered Assault Armorcarrying compartments, a soldier is now able to carry eleven clips, giving him a much larger capacity of 990 rounds battery-wise.